Calistoga's Deal To Purchase Napa County Fairgrounds Off For Now

CALISTOGA, CA — For three years now, Calistoga Mayor Chris Canning has been part of a city effort to purchase the Napa County Fairgrounds from the county. But just when city officials had everything in place to finalize the deal and obtain the 34.3-acre property, the coronavirus pandemic changed everything.

While a deal between the city and county still may be struck, it won’t be happening now. The announcement comes less than a year after the city agreed to pay the county $7.2 million for the fairgrounds property and was in the final stages of finalizing the sale, which would have closed either in late June or early July.

But when the coronavirus crisis caused the bond market to collapse after the city had obtained a AAA bond rating, Canning said that the city found itself with the financing necessary to make the deal happen. The matter is scheduled to be voted on by the by the city council on Tuesday.

Canning said Thursday the city still has every intention of buying the Fairgrounds, which the county still intends to sell. But at least for the foreseeable future, Canning said there is no interest in public bonds or an appetite for dealing with certificates of participation.

“The timing is what stinks,” Canning told Patch in a phone interview.

The city and county will determine the deal amicably, Canning said, but both parties are willing to enter conversations about the property deal at a later date. The project was originally a joint venture before the 2017 Tubbs wildfire that killed 22 people and burned nearly 37,000 acres changed everything for the county.

City officials continued to move forward toward acquiring the fairgrounds and seemed ready to close the deal in April when the bottom dropped out of the market due to the pandemic, which has forced Calistoga – which relies heavily on tourism dollars – to take a financial hit as well. Canning estimates that between March 15 and the end of August, the city will take a $4.4 million hit in unrealized revenue for a city where 54 percent of the revenue are generated through Transient Occupancy Tax.

Canning expects the city to be forced to make some of the tough decisions it has in the past and that have allowed the city to be sitting on a bit of a reserve. But depending on how long the pandemic continues to impact tourist activity, the ability to purchase the fairgrounds will remain on hold.

“In the absence of somebody giving us bonds or certificates of participation, we just can’t move forward on it,” Canning said. “We’ve been through the hard part already. We’ve already danced with our date once. We know who leads and who follows and next time around, it should be easier.”